Scott Weiland Claims He Turned Down ‘The Voice’

Can you envision Scott Weiland trading barbs with Adam Levine and Blake Shelton or contemplating, "I am, I am, I am, I'm gonna turn my chair for you"? According to the singer, he was approached about the hit NBC series The Voice in its early stages.

Speaking with Details, Weiland was asked whether he would consider being a judge, coach or mentor on one of the popular reality singing competitions like American Idol or The Voice. He responded, "I don't watch those shows. It's just not my bag. When they were putting The Voice together, I was asked if I was interested in being one of the judges. I was doing Velvet Revolver at the time, so I passed on it."

For those doing the math in their head, The Voice premiered on NBC in the spring of 2011, while Velvet Revolver's split with Weiland took place in the spring of 2008. However, Weiland was fully engaged with Stone Temple Pilots by the time of the show's premiere.

When asked by Details if he's glad he passed on the offer, Weiland added, "I think it would have given me a different career. When you become a television personality, it's difficult to maintain your musical credibility."

The vocalist also opened up with some advice he'd pass on to the next generation of musicians. "It's so important to be current with social media for new bands," says Weiland. "When I was trying to get a record deal, we used to go out to clubs and pass out flyers. We'd put up flyers on telephone poles and walls. It was much more of a grassroots word of mouth kind of thing as far as how you came up through the ranks. Now people look at a band's social media presence."

But while being online will help get the word out, Weiland says that songwriting and craft is ultimately what will keep people coming back. He adds, "On the business side of things, [labels] want music that they think is accessible. But you still have to be true to yourself or else what you create won't sound real and honest."

These days, Weiland is furthering his music career with his band The Wildabouts. The group just released their latest album, Blaster, this week. However they recently suffered a tragic setback when their guitarist Jeremy Brown passed away suddenly.